Nail magazine

ABSTRACT

A nail magazine for use in a nailing gun equipped with a firing pin having a fixed stroke includes a nailing seat having a nail slot for the passing of nails and a guide groove for guiding reciprocating motion of the firing pin of the nailing gun. A striking block is positioned in the guide groove of the nailing seat and movable along the guide groove between a standby position and a striking position where the striking block is forced by the firing pin to drive one of the nails out of the guide groove.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a nail magazine and, moreparticularly, to such a nail magazine that is suitable for use in anailing gun equipped with a firing pin having a fixed stroke.

2. Description of the Related Art

A nailing gun is mainly comprised of a gun body with a firing mechanism,and a nail magazine adapted to accommodate nails. The nail magazinecomprises a nailing seat connectable to the gun body of the nailing gun.The nailing seat has a nail slot for the passing of the nails, and avertical guide groove adapted to guide reciprocating motion of a firingpin of the firing mechanism. Upon each down stroke of the firing pin, anail is driven out of the nailing seat into a workpiece.

In order to effectively drive nails into the workpiece (for example,wood), the moving distance of the firing pin is fixed subject to thelength of the nails to be used, i.e., a nailing gun is designed to use aspecific type of nails. Therefore, a nailing gun designed for use withsquare-shaped nails is not suitable for driving U-shaped nails. On thecontrary, a nailing gun designed for use with U-shaped nails is notsuitable for driving square-shaped nails. Further, there is known anailing gun specifically designed for driving insulated nails forfastening wire pipe. This design of nailing gun cannot be used to drivesquare-shaped nails or U-shaped nails. Therefore, a consumer may have toprepare many different types of nailing guns for use with differentnails.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide a nail magazine that eliminatesthe aforesaid drawback.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the main object of the present invention to provide a nailmagazine, which has a striking block set below the firing pin of anailing gun and movable between a standby position and a strikingposition for driving a nail into the workpiece upon each down stroke ofthe firing pin. Simply by changing the striking block, the nail magazinecan accommodate different nails for use with the nailing gun equippedwith the firing pin having a fixed stroke.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a nailmagazine, which saves equipment cost.

To achieve these objects of the present invention, the nail magazine foruse in a nailing gun equipped with a firing pin having a fixed strokecomprises a magazine body for accommodating nails therein, a nailingseat, a front cover, a nail pusher and a striking block. The nailingseat is fixedly fastened to the magazine body and has a guide groove forguiding reciprocating motion of the firing pin, and a nail slot formedin a lower groove section of the guide groove for the passing of thenails accommodated in the magazine body. The front cover is covered onthe nailing seat and defines with the guide groove of the nailing seat apassage for the passing of the firing pin. The nail pusher is mountedinside the magazine body for pushing the nails inside the magazine bodytoward the nail slot. The striking block is positioned in the guidegroove of the nailing seat and movable between a standby position and astriking position where said striking block is forced by the firing pinto drive one of the nails out of the guide groove. Biasing means, suchas a spring, provides a biasing force to the striking block forreturning the striking block from the striking position to the standbyposition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a nail magazine according to a firstpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the nail magazine according to thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing thestriking block in the standby position.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 but showing the striking block moved to thestriking position.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a nail magazine according to the secondpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view of the nail magazine according to thesecond preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing thestriking block in the standby position.

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 but showing the striking block moved to thestriking position.

FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing showing the use of same stroke of firingpin with different embodiments of nail magazine according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A nail magazine according to the present invention is designed for usein a nailing gun having a firing pin 100 of fixed stroke.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a nail magazine 1 in accordance with thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown comprisedof a magazine body 10, a nail pusher 14, a nailing seat 20, a frontcover 30, a striking block 40, and biasing means embodied as two springmembers 50.

The magazine body 10 is comprised of two symmetrical half shells 11 and12 and a nail guide 13. According to this embodiment, the nail guide 13is adapted to carry U-nails A (see FIG. 3). The magazine body 10 is usedwith the nail pusher 14. The nail pusher 14 is comprised of a pushmember 15 and a follower spring 16, and adapted to push nails forwardlytoward the nailing seat 20. Because the magazine body 10 and the nailpusher 14 are of the known design, no further detailed description inthis regard is necessary.

The main features of the present invention are outlined hereinafter. Thenailing seat 20 is fixedly fastened to the front end of the magazinebody 10, having a vertical guide groove 22 formed of an upper groovesection 221 and a lower groove section 222 in the front side 21. Thewidth of the lower groove section 222 is greater than the upper groovesection 221. The nailing seat 20 further comprises an upper shoulder 23and a lower shoulder 24 respectively disposed at top and bottom ends ofthe lower groove section 222, and a nail slot 25 formed in the lowergroove section 222 of the guide groove 22 for the passing of theaforesaid U-nails A.

The front cover 30 is fastened to the outer (front) side of the nailingseat 20, defining with the vertical guide groove 22 of the nailing seat20 a firing pin passage (not shown) for the passing of the firing pin100 of the nailing gun. The striking block 40 and the spring members 50are set in between the front cover 30 and the nailing seat 20. For easyunderstanding of the action of the firing pin 100, the front cover 30 isnot shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The striking block 40 is set in the vertical guide groove 22 of thenailing seat 20, and movable between a standby position P1 (see FIG. 2)and a striking position P2 (see FIG. 3). The top side 41 of the strikingblock 40 is a flat surface. The striking block 40 has two topprojections 42 reversely disposed at two sides in flush with the flattop side 41, as shown in FIG. 2, and suspended in the lower groovesection 222. The bottom side 43 of the striking block 40 curves inwardsto fit the smoothly arched upper part of the U-nails A.

The biasing means, which is embodied as the two spring members 50, isprovided for returning the striking block 40 from the striking positionP2 to the standby position P1. As shown in FIG. 2, the spring members 50are provided at two opposite lateral sides of the striking block 40,each having a top end respectively stopped against the bottom side ofeach projection 42 and a bottom end stopped against the lower shoulder24. FIG. 2 shows the extended status of the spring members 50 to forcethe projections 42 of the striking block 40 against the upper shoulder23, and the striking block 40 is set in the standby position P1 and keptaway from the bottom end of the firing pin 100 at a distance. FIG. 3shows the striking block 40 forced downwards by the firing pin 100 tothe striking position P2, at this time the spring members 50 arecompressed, and the bottom side 43 of the striking block 40 drives theU-nail A out of the nailing seat 20, finishing the nailing action. Whenthe firing pin 100 returned to its former position, the spring members50 are released to push the striking block 40 back to the standbyposition P1.

Technically, the striking block can be made having a flat bottom sidefor driving square-shaped nails.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show an alternate form of the nail magazine. According tothis embodiment, the nail magazine 2 is adapted to accommodate nails Bfor holding down wiring pipes. The nails B each comprise an insulator b1and a metal nail body b2 (see FIG. 5). The nail magazine 2 is comprisedof a magazine body 60, a nail pusher 62, a nailing seat 70, a frontcover 64, a striking block 80, and two spring members 90. The magazinebody 60, the nail pusher 62, and the front cover 64, are not identicalto like members in the aforesaid first embodiment of the presentinvention, however they are of the known art, not within the scope ofthe improvement of the present invention, and therefore no furtherdetailed description is necessary in this regard.

The main features of the nail magazine 2 are outlined hereinafter. Thevertical guide groove 71 of the nailing seat 70 comprises a relativelynarrower upper groove section 711 and a relatively wider lower groovesection 712. The nail slot 72 is formed in the lower groove section 712for the passing of the nails B. The striking block 80 and the springmembers 90 are set in between the front cover 64 and the nailing seat70. FIG. 5 shows the status of the nail magazine before firing of thefiring pin 100. FIG. 6 shows the firing pin 100 fired and the strikingblock 80 moved to the striking position.

In either of the aforesaid two embodiments of the present invention, twoguide rods (not shown) may be set in the lower groove section of thevertical guide groove of the nailing seat and respectively insertedthrough the spring members and the two projections of the striking blockto guide vertical movement of the striking block in the vertical guidegroove of the nailing seat stably.

As stated above, the invention sets a striking block below the firingpin and above the striking position to achieve nail striking action upondown stroke of the firing pin. FIG. 7 shows the firing pin 100 has afixed stroke S, and the nail magazine 1 (for U-nails A) or nail magazine2 (for wiring pipe binding nails B) installed in the body of the nailinggun. By means of the down stroke to drive the striking block, thenailing action is done, i.e., one nailing gun can be selectively usedwith different alternate forms of the nail magazine for different nails,saving much equipment cost.

1. A nail magazine for use in a nailing gun equipped with a firing pinhaving a fixed stroke, the nail magazine comprising: a magazine body foraccommodating nails therein; a nailing seat fixedly fastened to a frontend of said magazine body, said nailing seat having a guide groovevertically extended in a front side thereof, and a nail slot formed in alower groove section of said guide groove for the passing of the nailsaccommodated in said magazine body; a front cover covered on the frontside of said nailing seat and defining with said guide groove of saidnailing seat a passage for the passing of said firing pin; a nail pushermounted inside said magazine body for pushing the nails inside saidmagazine body toward said nail slot; a striking block positioned in saidguide groove of said nailing seat and movable along said guide groovebetween a standby position and a striking position where said strikingblock is forced by said firing pin to drive one of said nails out ofsaid guide groove; and biasing means for returning said striking blockfrom said striking position to said standby position.
 2. The nailmagazine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guide groove of saidnailing seat comprises an upper groove section, the lower groove sectionwhich is wider than said upper groove section, an upper shoulder at atop side of said lower groove section, and a lower shoulder at a bottomside of said lower groove section; said striking block comprises twoprojections bilaterally extended from a top side thereof in reverseddirections and movably received in said lower groove section; saidbiasing means comprises two return springs disposed at two oppositelateral sides of said striking block and stopped between the projectionsof said striking block and said lower shoulder.
 3. The nail magazine asclaimed in claim 2, wherein said striking block has a flat bottom sidefor driving square-shaped nails.
 4. The nail magazine as claimed inclaim 2, wherein said striking block has a bottom side curved inwardsfor driving U-nails.